Veteran Hiring is Not the Field of Dreams

Join Medal of Honor recipient and Toyota Personal Branding Ambassador Sergeant Dakota Meyer as he sits down with Phillips 66’s Jonathan Rosenburg, Manager of Talent Planning and Acquisition, and Kevin Blasco, Director of Talent Acquisition Programs, as they share the the journey to move Phillips 66 from a veteran- friendly to a veteran-ready company committed to recruiting, hiring, and retaining veteran and military spouse employees.

Top 4 Veteran Hiring Takeaways With Phillips 66

1. You don’t have to be a veteran to understand the value that veterans can bring to your organization.

“The thing we learned early and I think it was our biggest success is that we called for a pause probably after our second or third [hiring] event. We realized that we needed to educate our hiring managers. We needed to tell them what’s important about a vet…and, of course, educate them on how to read a resume.” – Jonathan Rosenburg, Phillips 66

2. Know the difference between waving the flag and actually being veteran-ready.

“You can wave the flag and not be veteran ready, but you can’t be veteran ready and not wave the flag.” – Dakota Meyer, HOH & Toyota Personal Branding Ambassador

3. Veteran hiring is not the like the field of dreams.

“I think the biggest thing that Kevin and I learned in that first year, we thought, uh, you post a job and they will come and it’ll be that easy. It’s not the field of dreams.” – Jonathan Rosenburg on standing up the veteran talent program with Phillips 66

4. You don’t have to know everything about veteran hiring , but you have to be willing to admit it and reach out to veterans with in your company to help you address gaps in your knowledge.

“Our VetNet employee resources group helps us out a lot when it comes to really understanding and training us how to even read [veteran] resumes.” – Kevin Blasco, Phillips 66